Flow Charts
neil.fraser.name
Flow Charts
1–10 of 31 posts
Re: Flow Charts
#2Hopefully this one day becomes the case with UML.
Re: Flow Charts
#3As a kid, flow charts were a good way to 'write' a program without having to learn a language. Also flowcharts were a nice precursor to FSM diagrams.
Re: Flow Charts
#4The classes were for beginner programmers. It's a good idea for them to sketch out a rough idea of their program before they start coding so they can get clear in their head things like what loops to use.
Note that I suggest an informal sketch, rather than strict flowcharts with definitions for each box shape etc.
There are other paper-planning tools too. Jackson Structured Programming is one. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_structured_programming)
I'd be interested to know if new programmers would still find this kind of thing useful, or if it's just confusing?
Re: Flow Charts
#5I think that there is still value in teaching flow charts to beginner coders. It'll get you used to pen and paper reasoning and they are very conductive to better design and architecture, when done at a higher level.
Re: Flow Charts
#6If you cannot describe your algorithm on a paper... it will be difficult to debug this code afterwards.
Re: Flow Charts
#7Slightly off-topic, but I remember doing flow charts in college back in 2008. I hated it. Everyone hated it. It was boring, awkward, and confusing, especially for those of my classmates who had never written actual code before.
The assignment was to break down everyday activities (e.g. brushing your teeth) into atomic steps, and have conditionals and loops in there. Not only was it unclear how granular the steps were supposed to be, but I also thought that this is probably the lamest, most uncool way to introduce someone to programming.
At another college they used Scratch for that, which was a whole lot more fun, because it makes it easy to avoid syntax errors, draw graphics, get instant feedback, and have a nice visualization of the program flow/structure.
And those god-damn Nassi–Shneiderman diagrams. Ugh.
Re: Flow Charts
#8Not sure why the use of COBOL is written in the past tense given that it is still widely used.
I cut my teeth on both COBOL and flowcharts and still find the latter immensely useful for working out logical flows in my code.
Much better to work out the foundations before cutting the code. Leads to higher quality in my opinion.
Re: Flow Charts
#9Amusing that this takes place in Saigon. My mom is from there and her knowledge of COBOL is why she still has a programming job today
Re: Flow Charts
#10Lest we forget "computer" and "compiler" were once job descriptions, and (if I'm not mistaken) the "coder" was the person who punched the cards while the "programmer" was the person who fed those cards into the card reader. Timesharing systems and teletypes changed everything.
Software developers often talk about how automation changes peoples' lives but sometimes forget how much of their own industry was disrupted by automation.